In this message we shall consider more than thirty points related to God’s accomplished work concerning the church. Most of these points are expressed as verbs in various verses throughout the book of Ephesians.
In 1:4 Paul says, “According as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blemish before Him, in love.” God chose us in eternity past, when He was forming His plan to have the church. The fact that we were chosen in eternity means that our salvation began before the foundation of the world and before time. The word chosen implies that some were selected and that others were not selected. Praise the Lord that we are among the chosen ones! If we turn to our spirit and contact the Lord regarding this matter, we shall realize that just as God is eternal, so His choosing of us was also related to eternity.
Ephesians 1:5 says that we have been predestinated unto sonship. The Greek word rendered predestinated means to be pre-marked, to be marked out beforehand. In eternity God, through His foresight, marked us out from among a vast number of people. Because we were marked out before the creation of the universe, we cannot escape from God. We may want to give Him up, but He will not give us up. What God is doing with us was not initiated by us in time; it was initiated by God in eternity.
After choosing and predestinating us, God created us in Adam. But the man created by God became fallen. Nevertheless, God still loved us. In 2:4 Paul speaks of the great love with which God loved us. He loved us even when we were dead in offenses and sins, when we were walking according to the age of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air (2:1-2). In 5:25 Paul says that Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. Therefore, we are not only the chosen and predestinated ones, but also the loved ones.
The Bible emphasizes God’s love for us after the fall, not before the fall. Ephesians 2 is proof of this. Even after we had become sons of disobedience, God nevertheless loved us. Our fall gave opportunity for God’s love.
In 4:4 Paul says that we were called in one hope of our calling. Many of us know the exact time and place of our calling. I can still remember the afternoon I was called by God. God came to me and granted me a gracious visitation, and He called me. From the time I was called, I was caught by the Lord. As those who have been caught by Him, we cannot run away from Him. Try as we may, we simply cannot do this. If we run from Him temporarily, He will eventually bring us back to Himself. The fact that we cannot run from the Lord proves that we have been called by Him.
In 1:7 Paul speaks of redemption, saying, “In Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of offenses, according to the riches of His grace.” As God was accomplishing His work concerning the church, He redeemed us.
God has also reconciled us to Himself (2:16). We needed to be reconciled because we were God’s enemies and were in rebellion against Him. There was enmity between us and God. But through the Lord’s death on the cross, we have been saved from our fallen situation and reconciled to God. Praise the Lord that now there is nothing separating us from Him! We may still be weak, but we are in a reconciled condition. When we are in fellowship with the Lord, we are happy. But when we lose touch with the Lord, we are sad. But whatever our feelings, we nevertheless have been reconciled to Him.